Run your own fantasy inn

A growing inn, an optional adventure

A new alpha milestone bringing together management, combat, progression and character improvements. Still in development, with online validation limits stated openly.

• The permanent wizard and portal are optional: enter a dungeon or keep working at the inn. Choose solo or multiplayer first; the host selects the room mode.
• Guest rooms with payment and cleaning, an alchemy laboratory, an outdoor forge, a costume wardrobe and shared kitchen storage.
• A travelling merchant, commissions, rare ingredients, irrigation upgrades and capacity checks for purchases, gathering and crafting.
• Craftable and shareable tier-one gear, persistent provisions, 80 talents with reviewed effects, and world, camp and expedition saves.
• Separate ability and target selection, confirmed retreat only between encounters, a history modal and an I inspection panel for health, guard and status effects.
• All 64 civilian and tier-one walking cycles renewed: four characters, eight directions and eight frames per cycle. Size, movement speed and animation interval settings are preserved.
• Readable fonts, expanded translations, connection notices, authenticated session recovery, and collision, crop, door and combat-effect fixes.
• All players must use 0.2.0. Java is included in the ZIP; automated tests and local executable checks do not certify audio on other PCs, long-term balance or recovery across real networks. No host migration.

Three game modes and expanded dungeons

A new alpha with independent campaigns, persistent progression and a substantial visual and gameplay expansion.

• Play offers Full game, Dungeon or Inn only, in solo or multiplayer.
• Load game shows mode, date and progress. Each new dungeon has its own camp and pending run.
• Camp with difficulty, talents, equipment and stats. Save and exit preserves the expedition without claiming loot early.
• New bosses, enemies, rooms and animations, with heroes facing northeast.
• Renewed customers, farming and animal effects, new terrain, crop stages and a four-tile well. More readable menu fonts.
• Checkpoints, backups, save integrity and communication improvements. The ZIP includes Java and verified local visual settings.
• Alpha: 425 automated tests and local checks. Real multi-PC reconnection and extended balance testing remain pending. Online rooms must be recreated by the original host.

Audio after loading

The introduction no longer creates a music stream while the loading screen is visible.

• The first track is only created after entering an actual menu or game state, so the introduction cannot remain playing behind the tavern or dungeon.
• Diagnostics are written directly to %USERPROFILE%\.prefs\inn-sim-audio.log so the active track can be checked on each device.

Per-device audio diagnostics

Simultaneous launches are prevented and the track selected by the game is recorded.

• A second instance for the same user warns and does not start, preventing audio mixed across processes.
• The local .prefs/inn-sim-audio.log file records every music change for investigating specific devices.

Immediate menu exit

The transition into a session no longer waits for the next frame to release menu audio.

• When a session or dungeon starts, the introduction is stopped and released synchronously.

One start per track

A call that could restart the same song when Windows reported an incorrect playback state has been fixed.

• Every track starts once when it is created and play is never invoked again while it remains active.

A single music player

Preloaded tracks have been replaced with one native audio source.

• Every ambience change releases the previous song before creating the next one, preventing persistent Windows overlap.

Windows audio hardened

A defensive fix that prevents the menu introduction from remaining over the game music.

• Every update explicitly stops every non-selected track, even when the audio driver reports an incorrect state.

Only one soundtrack at a time

An audio fix that reliably hands menu music over to ambience and combat.

• The dungeon and combat no longer keep the menu introduction playing in the background.
• Every transition explicitly stops inactive tracks, preventing overlap on Windows.
• Player names no longer use an opaque panel, keeping the map visible beneath each label.

A sturdier expedition

A release update that fixes visible issues from the previous build and makes the handoff between the inn and dungeon clearer.

• The Windows build preserves the real character size, offset, and movement configuration, alongside the map's visual layout.
• The crypt is visible again in battle, and its action log uses transparency instead of hiding the arena.
• Ripe crops keep their visible plant until harvest, and local games no longer inherit an online identifier that blocks movement.
• The night portal is now a compact side card, so the group can prepare without losing sight of the inn.

The expedition now leaves its mark

The dungeon becomes a lasting part of inn progression, with gear, talents, and a dedicated presentation for every battle.

• Every hero has a persistent dungeon talent tree, available from the inventory and synchronised in co-op.
• Bosses grant tier-one gear; returning through the portal settles a run's rewards into the inn exactly once.
• Battles gain a crypt arena, renewed field actions, and new details for the portal and storage.
• The application gains an inn icon for both the game window and Windows executable.

The night expedition begins

The alpha gains a first incremental dungeon linked to the inn, alongside a substantial art and animation pass that makes the world feel more alive.

• At midnight a portal appears: the party has 30 seconds to ready up, with temporary bots filling any missing places.
• Bats, spiders, and a dragon form the first encounter chain, with targeted abilities, enemy intents, rest, and provisional rewards.
• Dungeon heroes gain armour and animations, while livestock and civilian characters receive more natural directional movement.
• The inventory and merchant gain new icons for materials, recipes, rods, buckets, and irrigation.

The inn comes alive

A major visual and audio update that establishes Inn Sim's new identity and makes character tuning configurable during development.

• The inn, garden, furniture, and kitchen receive a more detailed top-down art direction.
• The four playable characters receive new directional idle and walking sprites.
• Each character's animation timing, size, and movement speed can be hot-reloaded without depending on FPS.
• New menu, day, night, bard, and brawl tracks arrive alongside sound-menu improvements.

Bundled map fix

A rendering and distribution fix so the downloadable build preserves the map visual layout.

• Wall and object configuration is now included in the Windows package.
• Stoves, prep counters, and distillers always render as part of the base map.
• The kitchen rear shelf remains removed without affecting the rest of the equipment.

The inn's new look

A visual and tooling update that lays the groundwork for a far more detailed inn while keeping the top-down gameplay readable.

• Floors, facades, exterior stone walls, transparent windows, trees, and furniture now share a unified art direction.
• Tables, kitchen, stoves, prep counters, distillers, and the bar are visually reorganized for clearer play.
• The development map supports hot-reloaded per-coordinate, layer, size, rotation, and offset adjustments for walls, windows, and objects.
• The shield, kitchen, counter, distillers, and doors can be layered as visual objects without breaking collisions or interactions.
• Rawbytes loading screen, startup version checks, and improved local profile persistence are added.

Kitchen menu fix

A focused bug-fix update that keeps cooking recipes easy to browse and select as the recipe book grows.

• The cooking grid shows four visible rows and no longer overlaps the ingredient panel.
• The mouse wheel scrolls recipes, while WASD and arrow keys keep the selection on screen.
• Clicks respect the visible row, with a compact counter showing the current recipe range.
• Shared storage can be opened from up to two tiles away.

Progression, fishing, and a much more cooperative inn

The largest alpha update so far: shared progression, fishing, full persistence, shared storage, and a reorganized interface for teams of up to four players.

Progression and economy

• Every served order grants 10 group EXP. There are 20 levels and the cost doubles at each level-up.
• On level-up, every player receives points for Culinary Master, Landowner, or Warrior Path.
• Tester mode for solo games, with enough gold and talent points to explore content without a long session.
• Chickens, pigs, sheep, and cows can produce one offspring at season end when there is room.

Lake, fishing, and cooking

• The garden now extends westward with a lake and three unlockable fishing rod tiers.
• Trout, anchovies, cod, hake, salmon, and sea bass are added with catches weighted by rod tier.
• Six new recipes: grilled trout, anchovy toast, cod stew, hake with vegetables, roasted salmon, and roasted sea bass.
• The prep counter and distiller support quantity selection and chained work without reopening the menu.

Co-op and saving

• The host saves the world, crops, animals, customers, broken tables, tavern state, calendar, upgrades, backpacks, storage, and talents.
• Periodic autosaves run in solo games and for the multiplayer host.
• New shared storage transfers one item or an entire stack between a backpack and the chest.
• Guest snapshots and reconnection are strengthened; camera, menus, and backpack remain local per player.
• AFK disconnections have a generous grace period, and the host can remove an absent player to free a slot.

Inventory and interface

• Tab opens a three-column sheet: character and prepared equipment, scrollable backpack, and talents.
• Cooking, vendor, delivery, and storage share icon grids and consistent mouse and keyboard controls.
• Visual polish for seeds, progress, text, bars, and panels prevents common overlaps.
• Tier-two and tier-three water buckets reduce well trips, while automatic irrigation remains an important upgrade.
• Day/night filters, customer paths, and outdoor table seating were corrected.

Inn and garden

• More prepared rooms, a reorganized kitchen and bar, and storage moved inside the inn.
• A square outdoor terrace sits beneath the right-hand door, with customer routes and seats adjusted.
• Four crop areas are organized beside the paths, with trees and livestock repositioned to keep routes clear.
• New map, network, save, fishing, talent, and interface tests support the added systems.

Spanish tavern cooking and expanded production

An update that deepens the farming, cooking, and service loop with new ingredients and dishes.

• Farmable wheat, dough, bread, and apple pie prepared from scratch.
• Chorizo, ham, and black pudding from pigs, plus pizzas, omelettes, burgers, and sandwiches.
• The bard returns to the classic pixel-art style while alternate visual variants are kept in the project.

A sturdier economy and co-op loop

An iteration focused on keeping the inn enjoyable after a group has mastered the basic loop.

• Livestock sacrifice, lamb and beef, and new tier-two recipes.
• Faster seasons and rebalanced animal economy.
• Improvements for rejoining co-op rooms and avoiding inactivity locks.

More work to share around the inn

Daily management gains tools that let the garden, kitchen, and hall work better as a team.

• Shared storage for transferring resources between players.
• Unlockable automatic irrigation and batch ingredient preparation.
• Expanded animal pens to buy more livestock as demand grows.

Saving, atmosphere, and multiplayer

The first build designed for longer sessions and meaningful co-op testing.

• Full saves and autosaves for the inn state.
• Public and private rooms, player backpacks, and shared storage.
• Video and sound settings, tavern music, radios, and an unlockable bard.

The inn starts to come alive

The gameplay foundation expands with production, customers, and a first economy.

• A farmable garden, water, woodcutting, and respawning resources.
• Kitchen, prep counter, initial recipes, and customer orders.
• Selectable characters, gold and silver, and the merchant's first upgrades.

First playable inn

The first public prototype: a small inn, a garden, and the core work loop.

• Top-down map, movement, collisions, and character selection.
• Inventory, potato gathering, trees, and basic cooking.
• First customer, action progress bar, and an initial day-night cycle.